How to settle into a house

[OneCyanHiker]

If you bought a house that you regretted, how long before you settled or gave up? We’ve been here a couple of years and I’m more settled but some days think we should cut our losses and just go.

I brought my house 2 years ago and wanted to sell after 12 mths, it's now on the market. I'm like you, some days I'm fine, others not so fine, don't mind the house, but don't like the road. What do you dislike about yours?

It’s lots of small things, only one toilet, it feels very small, creaky floors, old windows that rattle, I’d like it to be closer to the bus stop and shops and nicer green space.

Can only talk from my experience, I like my house, but not the road & in my case nothing is going to change the road. Hence I want to move. All the things you mention apart from the bus stop can be altered.

Maybe focus on why you bought it, because that must have outweighed the location at the time.

What are its good points?

I think that’s why I’m struggling with the decision- we put more money in or move on

in terms of area, overall its good. The area is OK, most of our neighbours are nice. Our families are really close by. Just our particular street/ house is 30mins walk to the bus stop and our lifestyles have changed so we’re going into the city more.

Our mortgage payments are quite low. If we move nearer the bus stop we’ll be paying a lot more.

it seems really silly to move house to save 40mins walking per day so if the house was brilliant I wouldn’t be considering it.

Not silly, that’s a fair walk tbf and winter is on its way so I can see that not being ideal. Will obviously be good health wise, but still doesn’t make it appealing day to day in bad weather.

Also get your point above about putting more money in, or move. I think it’s sound to put some in if it’s likely to help with future sales, so maybe you could justify it to yourself that way.

Once you’ve had a winter of the 30 minute walks, you’ll probably have a better idea whether that’s sustainable for you?

Thanks. That’s a good point about seeing the winter through. Some changes we’ll have to make to help sell for sure, just hard to say how much to spend if we’re just going to sell.

We were miserable and sold after a year, no regrets (except that we bought the bloody place in the first place).

Oh and buyers didn’t care that we were selling that quickly! People on MN said it would be an issue, it was not.

We put our place back on the market after 6 months - by the time we sold and moved we had only lived in it 10 months. I liked it okay but dh hated it so we moved as there's no point staying if one of you doesn't like the place. When we were selling we told the estate agent to just say vaguely it was 'work reasons' that was prompting us to move so quickly. No one cares really, they just ask to be nosy.

Can’t really speak for myself as the first property we purchased in 1987 we stayed there for 4 years and only sold it as the property was a tiny 2 bed flat and we needed more space with family and we moved into the house we’re in currently in 1991 and still here (just about, SSTC) 33 years later.

My best friend purchased a house a few years back, it was a probate property - they had all surveys done and they knew exactly what needed to be done. Less than 12 months later, they had sold the property - there was a murder on the next street and they didn’t feel safe bringing up children in the area. They sold it for £50k more than what they purchased it for, but made a £50k loss overall as they had spent £100k refurbishing it!! It happens! They are much happier now with their new build.

You got to weigh up the pros and cons. Don’t make a rash decision..

I think we also need to face up to it and get an estate agent around to value it. I’m sure we’ll lose money based on what’s listing around us so I’ve been too nervous to do it.

@blackcatsblackcats @thisoldcity did you lose any equity when you sold so soon after? If you did, was it worth it?

Hi @OneCyanHiker yes we lost money on it - not a huge huge amount, and we both agreed we would try not to think about or total it up it if we were going to go ahead! We had put in replacement windows throughout and new flooring in all the downstairs rooms, decorated all the rooms, new woodburner. Loads of stuff. We also moved to a smaller house because we wanted to go back to where we were before and it was more expensive. And I didn't like that one! Anyway we both agreed we needed another move after that one so we moved again after about 18 months. I daren't think how much we have lost over all, but we both like the place we are in now. Whether it was all worth it or not, I don't know and I would still prefer to be in the place we sold after 10 months because of family being close by, but dh had such a strong reaction to the place it was no good staying.

@OneCyanHiker if you don't drive that would be a heck of a walk on a regular basis especially in rain etc

Yes a little, but house prices had fallen and our onward was cheaper than it might have been otherwise so we figured it kind of worked out.

And frankly it was worth it regardless.

In the dim and distant we settled on a house, ticked the boxes etc, from the day we moved in it felt unwelcoming, nothing logical just not home. We decorated it as we chose, we planned our wedding, we had our first child there, still not home. Sold after two years, dislike of the house only one factor in the move. Because of the distance we moved and other hassles we bought a house of plan intending to look properly later as we weren’t fans then of new build. Almost forty years on still there and it very rapidly became home.
No matter how logical you try to be with deciding it is an emotional decision in the end. Is it just the walking? Is there something about the house itself that leaves you cold? Can you change anything that would outweigh the hassles of the distance to the bus stop?

If you can afford to lose what you've put into the house, go for it. We've accepted an offer today, on a house we brought 2 yrs ago. I've spent 30+k in 2 years and accepted an offer of what I paid 2 years ago. But if it gets me where I want, so be it..... Hope it works out for you.